British depth study - 1890-1918

Liberal Reforms 1906-1911

POVERTY-York which found that 28% of York were living in some degree of poverty, either what he called ‘primary’ poverty when a family income fell below the 21 shillings required to maintain physical efficiency, or ‘secondary’ poverty, where spending took the residual income below the poverty line.

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Booth in London, 1884-

Booth’s investigation of the social conditions of East London he published The Life and Labour of the People of London, which appeared 1889 – 1903. He found that 30% of East London were living below what Booth called a ‘poverty line’ which meant that the family income was insignificant to meet basic needs such as food, rent and clothing.

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Seebohm Rowntree in york, 1899-1900 -

Quaker social reformer Seebohm Rowntree highlighted unprecedented levels of poverty in different parts of England.Rowntree as a motive for social reform was that it highlighted the fact that poverty was not due to personal inadequacies, but attributed to low levels of wages, the uncertainty or irregularity of employment, and from the ravages of sickness, infirmity and old age.

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Welfare state-

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Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister-

Herbert Asquith is chiefly remembered as the Prime Minister who passed the ‘liberal reforms’, which laid the foundations of the welfare state. However, he proved to be an ineffective leader in wartime.

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David Lloyd George- Chancellor of the Exchequer -

Lloyd George remained chancellor of the exchequer through the early years of World War One. In 1915 he was appointed minister of munitions in Asquith's wartime coalition government. In July 1916 he became secretary of state for war, but was increasingly critical of Asquith. In December 1916, with the support of the Conservative and Labour leaders, he replaced Asquith as prime minister. Lloyd George's achievements in the last two years of the war included persuading the Royal Navy to introduce the convoy system and the unification of the Allied military command under the French general Ferdinand Foch.

School meals and eventually managed to convince Parliament that hungry children had trouble learning and in 1906 it passed the Provision of School Meals Act. This act permitted local authorities to provide school meals. However, local authorities were slow to respond to this legislation and by 1939 less than 50% were providing this service. families couldnt afford to buy school meals for their children and therefore they would be starving all day. so the government brought in the school meals act which gave children free school meals. this meant they would no longer be hungry.

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School medical Service, 1907-

In 1907 school medical inspections began, although it was not until 1912 that free medical treatment was available.Medical inspections did little to solve any problems they uncovered and so it was not until free medical treatment became available in 1912 that the situation could get better. However, education authorities largely ignored the provision of free medical treatment for school children.

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Pensions Act, 1908-

In 1908, the Liberals introduced old age pensions which became law in 1909. This Act gave pensions of five shillings per week (25 pence in today's money) at the single rate to persons over 70 whose incomes were less than £21 per year. A married couple received seven shillings and sixpence a week. This sum could be collected at the Post Office. A smaller amount was paid to slightly higher earners. People who had an income greater than £31.50 per year received no pension at all. Those who had habitually failed to work or who had been in prison also received nothing.

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Children and Young Persons' Act, 1908-

It established juvenile courts and introduced the registration of foster parents, thus regulating baby-farming and wet-nursing and trying to stamp out infanticide. Local authorities were also granted powers to keep poor children out of the workhouse and protect them from abuse. The act also prevented children working in dangerous trades and prevented them from purchasing cigarettes and entering pubs. The act also prevented children from learning the "Tricks of the Trade" in adult prisons, where children were often sent to serve time if a crime had been committed. Instead the Children's Charter had allocated Borstals. It eventually led to many councils setting up social services and Orphanages.

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People's Budget, 1909-

The Budget was introduced in the British Parliament by David Lloyd George on 29 April 1909.Lloyd George argued that the People's Budget would eliminate poverty, and commended it thus:

This is a war Budget. It is for raising money to wage implacable warfare against poverty and squalidness. I cannot help hoping and believing that before this generation has passed away, we shall have advanced a great step towards that good time, when poverty, and the wretchedness and human degradation which always follows in its camp, will be as remote to the people of this country as the wolves which once infested its forests".

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National Insurence Act 1911- heavy industry-

Britain was not the first country to provide insured benefits. Germany had provided compulsory national insurance against sickness from 1884. After visiting Germany in 1908, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George said in his 1909 Budget Speech, that the United Kingdom should aim to be "putting ourselves in this field on a level with Germany; We should not emulate them only in armaments." In 1908 David Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government led by Herbert Asquith proposed the 1911 National Insurance Act. This measure gave the British working classes the first contributory system of insurance against illness and unemployment.